Method and system for querying and posting to multiple career websites on the internet from a single interface

ABSTRACT

A method and system for querying multiple career websites from a single interface is disclosed, where each of the websites comprises a plurality of web pages having site-specific fields requiring input of data. The method and system include collecting information from a user, and mapping the user information to the site-specific fields of each of the career websites. The method and system further include automatically filling-in the site-specific fields of each of the career websites with the mapped user information, and forming respective query strings from the filled-in site-specific fields for each of the career websites. The respective query strings are then submitted to the corresponding career websites.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is claiming under 35 USC 120 the benefit of provisionalpatent application serial no. 60/146,658 filed on Aug. 2, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to PC software applications that accessthe Internet, and more particularly to a method and system for queryingand posting to multiple career websites on the Internet from a singleinterface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Internet career websites are global online networks for careers thatconnect companies providing job opportunities with qualified individualsseeking jobs. For job seekers, career websites offer a host of features,which typically include job listings, resume management, personal jobsearch agents, chat and message boards, privacy options, expert adviceand career management. Because different jobs may be posted on differentcareer websites, individuals typically make use of more than one careerwebsite to maximize their results. Each of the career websites, however,typically requires the user to login and enter job search criteria.Therefore, the user must repeat entering this information at each of thesites.

PC software applications have been developed that are designed to makejob searching and submission of a resume to multiple career websiteseasier for the individual.

One such PC application connects to multiple career websites over theInternet and allows users to submit their resumes online. Theapplication would prompt the user for information and store the userinformation into fields in a database. When the user wanted to submitthe information to one of the career websites, the application wouldformat the data and send it to the career website. Because each careerwebsite requests different user information and store's the informationin different database fields, each career website that communicated withPC application required customized software from the career website forreceiving the data from the application and for translating the datafrom the application's format into the career website's format.

The problem with this approach is that if the application is changed orif any of the career websites change implementation, then both theapplication and the customized software for each of the career websitesneeds to be updated. Thus, the customization required to integrate theapplication with the career websites significantly hindered the adoptionof the application by additional career websites. An additional drawbackis that the PC application had no job searching capability, requiringthe user to go outside of the program and manually search each job siteindividually.

The assignee of the present application developed a resume and jobsearch PC application that improved on the prior approach. Thisapplication incorporated a job finder feature whereby the user couldenter search criteria for multiple career websites and the results wouldbe displayed in one location. However, because each career website hasdifferent fields for searching and uses different names for some ofthose same fields, the application only let the user enter job searchcriteria into fields that were common to all the career websites. Forexample, some career websites allow the user to search for a joblocation by city and state, while others only allow the user to searchby state. Therefore, to keep the search common to all sites, the PCapplication would only allow the user to search for job location bystate. Due to the generic nature of this job search, the application wasincapable of providing job seekers with search results that were asfocused as could have been achieved on the career websites themselves.

The PC application also included a resume submission feature that wouldsubmit the user's resume to multiple career websites. However, once theuser submitted his or her resume, the user had no way to access theresume. Thus, if the user found a mistake on the resume, the user had toedit the resume on the PC and then resubmit the resume to the careerwebsites through the PC application. In addition, once the user found ajob and wanted to end the job search, the user did not have thecapability of removing the resume from the career websites.

Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method and system forsearching for jobs and submitting resumes on multiple career websites.The present invention addresses such a need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for querying andposting to multiple career websites from a single interface, where eachof the websites comprises a plurality of web pages having site-specificfields requiring input of data. The method and system include collectinginformation from a user, including the user's resume, and mapping theuser information to the site-specific fields of each of the careerwebsites. The method and system further include automatically filling-inthe site-specific fields of each of the career websites with the mappeduser information, and forming respective query strings from thefilled-in site-specific fields for each of the career websites. Therespective query strings are then submitted to the corresponding careerwebsites.

According to the system and method disclosed herein, the presentinvention combines the benefit of one-click searching with the benefitof entering search criteria specific to each career website 14 for morepowerful searching all within one interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for querying multiplecareer websites on the Internet from a single interface in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for allowing users toquerying multiple career websites from the resume application inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example card displayed to theuser during data entry in the resume section of the resume application.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the document view of a completedresume.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the process for allowing the user tosearch for jobs at multiple career websites using the job finder featurein a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of job finder dialog boxdisplayed to the user.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example settings window inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the job finder results window.

FIG. 9 is block diagram illustrating a main menu for the resume castersection.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a process for automaticallysubmitting resumes to multiple career websites in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example form for collectingthe user's personal information.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example dialog screen listingavailable career websites in which the user selects some of the careerwebsites for resume submission.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to querying multiple career websites onthe Internet from a single interface, including generating resumes andautomatically submitting resumes to the career websites on the Internet.The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skillin the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the contextof a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications tothe preferred embodiment and the generic principles and featuresdescribed herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to theembodiments shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent withthe principles and features described herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for querying multiplecareer websites on the Internet from a single interface in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The presentinvention is a PC-based resume application 10 that aids users 12 increating electronic resumes and searching multiple career websites 14over the Internet through a graphical user interface 16. The resumeapplication 10 includes several features for aiding the user 12 insearching for jobs, including a resume section 18, a job finder section20, and a resume caster section 22. The resume application 10 alsoincludes a data database 24 for storing information entered by the user12, and a formatting database 26 for storing templates, styles, andother formatting information that may be applied to the users resume.

The resume application 10 further includes career websitedirect-link-libraries (DLLs) 28 for each of the career websites 14 thatlink to the resume application 10 at runtime through a genericapplication programming interface. Each of the DLLs 28 includeinformation regarding the functionality of the corresponding careerwebsite 14 that the resume application 10 accesses. For example, eachcareer website 14 provides different services on different web pageswithin the site. Further, each of the career websites 14 requests theuser to enter information into site-specific fields within those webpages. As career websites 14 change their functionality overtime and asnew career websites 14 are added, new DLLs 28 may be loaded onto theuser's PC for use by the resume application 10. In a preferredembodiment the DLL's 28 are updated and downloaded automatically by theapplication 10.

According to the present invention, besides aiding the user 12 ingenerating an effective resume, the resume application 10 allows a user12 to search for jobs and the submit resumes to the multiple careerwebsites 14 all within interface 16 of the resume application 10. Boththe user's job search criteria and the user's resume are formulated intoquery strings and sent to each of the career websites 14.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for allowing users toquerying multiple career websites from the resume application inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.Referring to both FIGS. 1 and 2, the process begins by collectinginformation from the user in step 50. Information is collected bydisplaying forms to the user in which the user enters data in therespective fields. For example, when searching for job, the user wouldinvoke the job finder section 20 and enter job search criteria into thejob finder form. When submitting a resume, the user would invoke theresume section 18 and enter name, address, work history and experienceinformation into resume fields.

The information collected from the user is then stored in the database24 and mapped to site-specific fields of each of the career websites 14in step 52. The resume application 10 then automatically navigates tothe correct web page within each of the career websites 14 for theservice being requested in step 54. After navigating to correct web pageat each of the career websites 14, the resume application 10automatically fills-in the site-specific fields on those pages with themapped user information in step 56. in a preferred embodiment, thesite-specific fields are filled-in using dynamic HTML.

The resume application 10 then forms respective query strings from thefilled-in site-specific fields of each of the career websites 14 in step58, and submits the respective query strings to the corresponding careerwebsites in step 60. If necessary, the resume application 10 displays inthe results returned from each of the career websites 14 through theuser interface 16 in step 62.

The operation of the resume section 18, the job finder section 20, and aresume caster section 22 will now be described.

The resume section 18 is a step-by-step guided resume system that helpsjob seekers create professional resumes. Through a guided resume wizard,job seekers are prompted for all relevant information with a card-likeinterface with next/back buttons that collects relevant information fromthe user 12 for each section of a resume.

In a preferred embodiment, the guided resume wizard of the resumesection 18 includes several data entry features and several dataformatting features that facilitate the generation of a resume. The dataentry features include a title selector feature and a pre-writtenphrases/words feature. The title selector feature is a drop-down listdisplayed at each stage during the step-by-step wizard for the user toenter or change the name of a particular resume section, or SectionTitle, on the resume. For instance, for OBJECTIVE, the user can easilychoose, OPENING STATEMENT, SUMMARY etc. directly from a drop down list.This will rename the section of the resume to fit the user preference.For EMPLOYMENT, users can easily change to EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY orEXPERIENCE.

The pre-written phrases/words is a data entry feature that includes aset of buttons displayed at each stage of the step-by-step wizard thatassist the user in writing the resume. An action phrases button providesa list of pre-written phrases for the major sections of a resume,including OBJECTIVE, SKILLS/ABILITIES, EXPERIENCE, and EDUCATION. Anaction words button provides a listing of 3,600 action words which areused to empower the user resume. Job Descriptions is a listing of over100,000 pre-written job description for every major career.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example card 70 displayed tothe user during data entry in the resume section 18 of the resumeapplication 10. The card includes a series of fields 72 for the user toenter the requested information. After the card 72 is filled in by theuser 12, the data in the fields is stored in the database 24.

After completing the data entry process for the resume, the user 12 mayuse the data formatting features of the resume section 18. The dataformatting features include a single-click resume styles feature, anapply-to-all feature, and a date format/date separator feature. Thesingle-click resume styles is a feature that allows the user 12 tochoose a resume style from pre-formatted templates, which are stored inthe formatting database 26. The user 12 is shown a description andgraphical preview of each of the formatting styles. The user 12 may alsochoose the font to apply to that style. Once the style and font has beenselected, the user 12 clicks an OK button and the entire resume istransformed into that particular style.

The apply-to-all feature allows the user 12 to maintain this consistentformatting. In a resume, there are common text sections which shouldretain a consistent format (i.e. the name of a Company listed on resumeshould be the same font, size and style as all other company names). Ifthe user 12 changes the font or formatting of a particular section ofthe resume, the resume section 18 will prompt the user 12 to change allsimilar sections of the resume to meet this standard. For instance, ifthe user 12 changes the font of one Section Title, the program will askthe user if the user 12 would like to make all other similar sections ofthe resume match the user's recent changes. This way, the user 12 doesnot have to go through each section of the resume making everythingconsistent.

The date format/date separator feature changes the format of datesthroughout the resume to common resume date formats. An upper/lowerfeature lets the user 12 choose the formatting in section titles, sincein a resume, it is very common to vary the case of the user's sectiontitles.

Once the user 12 has chosen an appropriate style and formatting for theresume, the style and formatting information is stored in the formattingdatabase 26, separate and apart from the resume data stored in thedatabase 24. This allows the resume section to display two views of theresume: the card view, and a document view where the content of theresume is combined with the chosen formatting to provide a layout orWYSIWYG view of the resume.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the document view of a completedresume. According to one aspect of the present invention, the user maychoose to edit the resume in both in the card view and in the documentview. In the example shown, the user is editing the OBJECTIVE section ofthe resume, and any changes made are entered in the database 24. Theresume application 10 uses the position of the cursor to determine whichsection of the resume the user is attempting to edit. The resumeapplication 10 then determines which fields in the database 24 thatsection of the resume maps to.

When displayed in the document view, a single block of text in of theresume may comprise multiple fields from the database 24, and in mostinstances need to be separated by delimiters such as commas, semicolons,and so on. In the example resume shown in FIG. 4, for example, theuser's telephone number is separated from the user's email address by acomma. However, the user does not enter delimiters when entering datainto the fields. The present invention stores the layouts of resumes inthe templates in the formatting database 26, including the position ofeach field in each block within the resume and the delimiters separatingthose fields. During editing of a resume in the document view, the useris not permitted to edit the delimiters. Rather, the user changes thedelimiters using the style and formatting options displayed in theediting menus.

Referring again to FIG. 1, after the user has prepared his/her resume,the user may choose to locate jobs using the job finder section 20 or tosubmit the resume using the resume caster section 22. The job findersection 20 assists the user 12 in locating job openings listed with thecareer websites 14 that meet his/her preferences. The user 12 simplyenters his/her job search criteria (job title and location) and clicksthe search button and the job finder section 20 automatically performs asearch of job openings at every major career website 14. As a search ofeach website 14 is completed, the job finder section 20 lists all thejob openings in a consistent format. The user 12 may view a moredetailed description of the job by clicking on the view job description,which causes a new browser window to open displaying the details of thejob directly from the career website 14. The personal settings enteredby the user 12 are remembered under the job finder's settings dialog sothat the next time the user 12 uses this feature, the user 12 does nothave to reenter the search criteria.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the process for allowing the user 12to search for jobs at multiple career websites 14 using the job finderfeature in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The processbegins in response to the user selecting the job finder feature in theresume application 10 by displaying a job finder dialog box in step 100.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of job finder dialog box120 displayed to the user 12. In a preferred embodiment, the job finderdialog box 120 includes a job title field 122, a location field 124, asettings button 126, and a search button 128.

Referring to both FIGS. 5 and 6, the user enters job search criteria inthe in step 102 by entering to the name of the job for which to searchin the job title field 122 and entering the desired state in thelocation field 124. If desired, the user 12 may perform a quick searchby simply clicking the search button 128, in which case all the careerwebsites 14 would be searched using the job title and state the userentered. However, due to the generic nature of the search criteria, thesearch results may be overly broad.

According to the present invention, the settings button 126 is providedto allow the user to narrow the search criteria at each websites 14.Upon clicking the settings button 126, a settings window opensdisplaying a list of career websites is displayed for user selection instep 104.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example settings window inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Thesettings window 130 displays a split screen where one side displays alisting of career websites 14 and the other side displays a mini browserwindow 134.

Referring to both FIGS. 5 and 6, when the user selects a career website14 to search in step 106 by clicking a check box, the job finder featureautomatically navigates to and displays the selected career website'sjob search web page 14A in step 108. The web page 14A includes jobsearch fields 136 specific to the career website 14A.

If it is the first time the user 12 has visited that career website 14,in step 109 the user 12 fills in the search fields 136 as desired instep 110 to narrow the search. For example, the user may choose to fillin a zip code and to search within a certain number of miles from thecode, and so on. The data entered by the user in each field 136 is thenstored in the database 24 in step 112. If it is not the first time theuser has visited that career website 14, then the job search featureretrieves the user's data from the database 24 and automatically fillsin all the search fields 136 with the previously entered data in step114, preferably using dynamic HTML.

The user may then continue to select another career website 14 in step116 and the process continues at step 106. When user has finishedselecting websites 14 to search, the user 12 returns to the job finderdialog window 120 and clicks the search button 128 to begin the searchin step 117. For each of the selected career websites 14, the job finderfeature accesses the career website's DLL 28 and the data entered by theuser 12 to formulate and send a URL query string to the website 14 instep 118. The results returned from each of the career websites are thenpresented to the user 12 in step 119 in a results window.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the job finder results window. Ina preferred embodiment, as each career website 14 returns its results, alink to the career website 14 is displayed on one side of the splitwindow. The user 12 may then click on the links to view each site'sresults, which are displayed on the other side of the split window. Theuser may also click the view all button 138 to see a listing of thecombined results of all the websites 14.

Some career websites 14 only return X number of results at a time, whileothers allow the user to specify how many results are returned. The jobfinder section 20 has its own settings for how many results to return,and automatically displays that many results to the user, no matter howmany results are returned from the career website 14. As an example, ifthe user 12 requested 50 results in the job finder section 20, but aparticular career website 14 only allows ten results to be returned,then the job finder will examine the web page of results passed backfrom the career website 14, find the “next 10” link, and automaticallyinvoke the link five times to gather the 50 results.

According to the job finder section 20 of the present invention, thebenefit of one-click searching is combined with the benefit of enteringsearch criteria specific to each career website 14 for more powerfulsearching, all within one interface, rather than entering a genericsearch using fields common to all sites or searching each siteindividually using a web browser. Also, the user 12 can change basicsearch criteria, like job title, without having to reset all criteria,like state, zip, etc.

Referring again to FIG. 1, after preparing a resume, the user may enterthe resume caster section 22 to have the user's resume submitted online.

FIG. 9 is block diagram illustrating a main menu for the resume castersection 22. The main menu 140 of the resume caster section 22 displaysfour primary functions that automate several necessary steps in asuccessful job search. The resume caster section 22 includes a submitresume feature, an edit resume feature, a delete resume feature, a jobsearch agents feature, and a view reports feature.

The submit resume feature automatically submits the user's 12 resume tomajor career websites 14 on the Internet. This feature automates theresume submission at major career websites 14, saving the job seekertime and effort.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a process for automaticallysubmitting resumes to multiple career websites 14 in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention. The submit resume featurebegins with a step-by-step wizard process that collects all necessarypersonal and resume information which will be used to fill-in theappropriate fields at each career website 14 in step 150.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example form for collectingthe user's personal information. The wizard also prompts the user toenter a user name and password, which will be used to automaticallylogin at each of the career websites 14.

Referring again to FIG. 10, after entering the requested information,the user 12 selects which of the career websites 14 to submit his/herresume in step 152. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exampledialog screen listing available career websites 14 in which the userselects some of the career websites 14 for resume submission.

Referring again to FIG. 10, after selecting the desired career websites14, the resume caster 22 automatically navigates to the login page ofone of the career websites 14, if the career website 14 requires anaccount to be set up before submitting a resume, and automatically fillsin the user name and password fields with the user name and passwordsupplied by the user in step 154. Thereafter, the resume caster 22automatically navigates directly to the resume submission page of thecareer website 14 and displays the page to the user 12 in step 156. Theresume caster 22 then automatically fills in each field in common to thedatabase 24, or auto-selects each relevant choice, using the user'spersonal and resume information in step 158. If the web page includesfields that are uncommon to the fields in the database 24 in step 160,then the user 12 has the opportunity to fill in the missing informationin step 162 and review the information and make any modifications beforepressing the submit button. The information entered by the user 12 issaved in the database 24 so that the next time the user visits thewebsite 14, the information will be automatically filled-in. If the pagedoes not include any fields that are uncommon to the fields in thedatabase 24, then the resume caster 22 automatically submits the page instep 164 by formulating a URL query string submitting using theinformation in the fields and submitting the URL query string. Inaddition to automatically navigating directly to the appropriate page ofeach career website 14 and automatically filling in fields with theusers personal and resume information, the resume caster 22 can alsosubmit an HITML version of the resume if the career website 14 supportsHTML.

After the page is submitted, a confirmation page is displayed to theuser indicating that the page has been submitted and optionallyinforming the user of his/her name and password in step 166. Ifadditional career websites 14 were selected in step 168, then theprocess proceeds at step 152. Once the resume has been submitted to allthe selected career websites 14, the user 12 is returned to the resumecaster main menu 140 in step 170.

Referring again to FIG. 9, the edit resume feature allows the user 12 toautomatically edit the resume at the career websites 14. Once a resumehas been submitted, the user 12 may use job caster section 22 to updatethe resume at any time. This process (auto-navigate and auto-fill) issimilar to submitting a resume, but will edit the resume instead.

The delete resume feature automatically removes the user's resume fromcareer websites 14 to which it was submitted. After a job search iscomplete, the user 12 may want to remove their resume from the Internet.The resume caster section 22 automates this process as well. Thisprocess (auto-navigate and auto-fill) is similar to submitting a resume,but the resume will be removed instead.

The job search agents feature automatically signs the user 12 up for JobAgents at the career websites 14. Many career websites 14 offer afeature that allows the user to submit the user's email address andcareer interest and will send the user 12 an email whenever a new jobopening appears that meets the user's criteria. The resume castersection 22 uses a similar process (auto-navigate and auto-fill) to signthe user up for job agents.

In a further embodiment, the resume application 10 includes an automaticupdate career websites feature that performs a check before using theresume caster section 22 or the job finder section 20 and automaticallydownloads and installs the latest DLLs 28 for the career websites 14 andalso downloads the latest version of the resume application 10 so thatthe interaction between application 10 and the career websites 14 isalways up to date.

A method and system for querying multiple career websites on theInternet from a single interface, including generating resumes andautomatically submitting resumes to the career websites on the Internet,has been disclosed.

Although the present invention has been described in accordance with theembodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readilyrecognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and thosevariations would be within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Those with ordinary skill in the art will readily recognizethat the resume application may be stored on a disk or any othercomputer-readable medium and/or transmitted over network, and executedby a processor from memory. Further the present invention is notintended to be limited by the hardware architecture of the computer.Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one or ordinary skill inthe art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for querying multiple career websitesfrom a single interface, each of the websites comprising a plurality ofweb pages having site-specific fields requiring input of data, themethod comprising the steps of: (a) collecting information from a user;(b) mapping the user information to the site-specific fields of each ofthe career websites; (c) automatically filling-in the site-specificfields of each of the career websites with the mapped user information;(d) forming respective query strings from the filled-in site-specificfields of each of the career websites; and (e) submitting the respectivequery strings to the corresponding career websites.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of automaticallynavigating to a correct web page at each of the career websites.
 3. Themethod of claim 2 further comprising the step of: (f) displayingresponses from each of the career websites.
 4. The method of claim 3wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of using dynamic HTML tofill-in the site-specific fields.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein step(b) further comprises the step of storing the mapped user information ina database.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps ofstoring the user information in the first database; and storingformatting information in a second database.
 7. The method of claim 6further comprising the step of providing the second database withformatting templates describing different resume styles, includingpositions within the resume styles of fields of data from the firstdatabase and positions of delimiters in relation thereto.
 8. The methodof claim 7 further including the step of providing the user with anoption to view the resume and document view and format view.
 9. Themethod of claim 8 further including the step of displaying the resumeand document view by combining information from the first database withthe formatting information from the second database.
 10. The method ofclaim 9 further comprising the step of allowing the user to edit theresume and document view.
 11. The method of claim 1 further comprisingthe steps of: receiving search criteria from the user; and automaticallyfilling-in search specific-fields of each of the career websites withthe search criteria received from the user, thereby automaticallysubmitting the search criteria to the multiple career websites.
 12. Themethod of claim 11 further comprising the step of automaticallyfilling-in search specific-fields that are common to fields in a firstdatabase used to store user information.
 13. The method of claim 12further comprising the steps of allowing user to fill-in searchspecific-fields that are uncommon to the fields in the first database.14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of presentingresults returned from each of the career websites to the user.
 15. Acomputer-readable medium for querying multiple career websites from asingle interface, each of the websites comprising a plurality of webpages having site-specific fields requiring input of data, thecomputer-readable medium comprising the instructions of: (a) collectinginformation from a user; (b) mapping the user information to thesite-specific fields of each of the career websites; (c) automaticallyfilling-in the site-specific fields of each of the career websites withthe mapped user information; (d) forming respective query strings fromthe filled-in site-specific fields of each of the career websites; and(e) submitting the respective query strings to the corresponding careerwebsites.
 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 whereininstruction (c) further comprises the instructions of automaticallynavigating to a correct web page at each of the career websites.
 17. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 16 further comprising the instructionof: (f) displaying responses from each of the career websites.
 18. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein instruction (c) furthercomprises the instructions of using dynamic HTML to fill-in thesite-specific fields.
 19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18wherein instruction (b) further comprises the instruction of storing themapped user information in a database.
 20. The computer-readable mediumof claim 16 further comprising the instructions of storing the userinformation in the first database; and storing formatting information ina second database.
 21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 furthercomprising the instruction of providing the second database withformatting templates describing different resume styles, includingpositions within the resume styles of fields of data from the firstdatabase and positions of delimiters in relation thereto.
 22. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 21 further including the instructionof providing the user with an option to view the resume and documentview and format view.
 23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22further including the instruction of displaying the resume and documentview by combining information from the first database with theformatting information from the second database.
 24. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 23 further comprising the instructionof allowing the user to edit the resume and document view.
 25. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising the instructionsof: receiving search criteria from the user; and automaticallyfilling-in search specific-fields of each of the career websites withthe search criteria received from the user, thereby automaticallysubmitting the search criteria to the multiple career websites.
 26. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 25 further comprising the instructionof automatically filling-in search specific-fields that are common tofields in a first database used to store user information.
 27. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 26 further comprising the instructionsof allowing user to fill-in search specific-fields that are uncommon tothe fields in the first database.
 28. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 27 further comprising the instruction of presenting resultsreturned from each of the career websites to the user.
 29. A system forquerying multiple career websites from a single interface, each of thewebsites comprising a plurality of web pages having site-specific fieldsrequiring input of data, comprising: means for collecting informationfrom a user; means for mapping the user information to the site-specificfields of each of the career websites; means for automaticallyfilling-in the site-specific fields of each of the career websites withthe mapped user information; means for forming respective query stringsfrom the filled-in site-specific fields of each of the career websites;and means for submitting the respective query strings to thecorresponding career websites.
 30. The system of claim 29 furtherincluding means for automatically navigating to a correct web page ateach of the career websites.
 31. The system of claim 30 whereinresponses from each of the career websites are displayed to the user.32. The system of claim 31 wherein the site-specific fields arefilled-in using dynamic HTML.
 33. The system of claim 32 wherein themapped user information is stored in a database.
 34. The system of claim29 further comprising the instructions of means for storing the userinformation in the first database; and means for storing formattinginformation in a second database.
 35. The system of claim 34 wherein thesecond database includes formatting templates describing differentresume styles, including positions within the resume styles of fields ofdata from the first database and positions of delimiters in relationthereto.
 36. The system of claim 35 wherein the user is provided with anoption to view the resume and document view and format view.
 37. Thesystem of claim 36 wherein the resume is displayed in document view bycombining information from the first database with the formattinginformation from the second database.
 38. The system of claim 37 whereinthe user may edit the resume and document view.
 39. The system of claim29 further including: means for receiving search criteria from the user;and means for automatically filling-in search specific-fields of each ofthe career websites with the search criteria received from the user,thereby automatically submitting the search criteria to the multiplecareer websites.
 40. The system of claim 39 wherein searchspecific-fields that are common to fields in a first database used tostore user information are automatically filled in.
 41. The system ofclaim 40 wherein the user is allowed to fill-in search specific-fieldsthat are uncommon to the fields in the first database.
 42. The system ofclaim 41 wherein results returned from each of the career websites arepresented to the user.
 43. A method of performing a job search onmultiple career websites from a single application program, comprisingthe steps of: (a) allowing the user to enter search criteria by enteringa title for the job to be searched and a location of the job; and (b)allowing the user to narrow the search by (i) selecting one or morecareer websites to search, (ii) a automatically navigating to anddisplaying a job search web page of one of the career websites, whereinthe web page includes job search fields specific to the career website,(iii) if it is the first time the user has visited the career website,allowing the user to fill-in the search fields with data, and storingthe data in a database, (iv) if it is not the first time the user hasvisited the career website, automatically filling-and the search fieldswith data stored in the database, (v) repeating steps (ii) through (iv)for each selected career website, (vi) formulating a URL query stringfor each of the career websites using the data entered by the user, andsending the URL query strings to the corresponding career websites, and(vii) presenting results returned from each of the career websites tothe user.
 44. The method of claim 43 further comprising the step offilling-in the search fields using dynamic HTML.
 45. The method of claim44 further including the step of automatically displaying apredetermined number of results to the user from each of the careerwebsites even if the career websites return a limited number of resultsat a time.
 46. A method for automatically submitting a user's resume tomultiple career websites from an application program, comprising thesteps of: (a) prompting the user to enter a user name and password; (b)allowing the user to select one or more career websites; (c)automatically navigating to a login page of one of the career websitesif the career website requires account information, and automaticallyfilling-in the user name and password; (d) automatically navigatingdirectly to a resume submission page of the career websites, anddisplaying the web page to the user; (e) automatically filling-in fieldson the resumes missing page using user information stored in a database;(f) if the web page includes fields not stored in the database, allowingthe user to fill-in those fields with data; (g) formulating a URL querystring submitting using the information in the fields and submitting theURL query string to the career of website; and (h) repeating steps (c)through (g) for each selected career website.
 47. The method of claim 46further including the step of displaying a confirmation to the userindicating that the resume has been submitted.
 48. The method of claim47 further including the step of allowing the user to edit the resumewhereby the edited resume is automatically resubmitted to each of theselected career websites.
 49. The method of claim 48 further includingthe step of allowing the user to delete the resume whereby the user'sresume is automatically removed from each of the selected careerwebsites.